Doctor insights on:
Precautions To Take After Thyroid Surgery

1

Depends:
It depends on how the incision was closed. Traditionally it is closed with a thin suture and steristrips which would take 7-10 days to heal but the bruising could take up to 2-3weeks.
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Surgical removal of the thyroid can be performed safely in experienced hands. Risks include general anesthesia, bleeding, infection, injury to nerve that moves vocal cord causing hoarseness and swallowing difficulties, injury to parathyroid glands causing low calcium and need for medications, need for thyroid medications, scar and need for additional surgery.
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2

Thyroid Recovery:
2 factors. 1) recovery from surgery. Typically basic recovery from neck surgery is on the order of 5-10 days at which point surgical pain and initial wound healing complete. 2) if total thyroidectomy there will be a period of time needed to find a new balance to your thyroid replacement. In some cases thyroid replacement may be delayed until confirmation is made that all tissue was removed.
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4

Not long:
Typically there are subcutaneous, or hidden sutures (stitches) under the skin that dissolve and steri-stips or narrow pieces of sticky material placed over the incision. The sutures should be absorbed in 2-3 weeks and the steri strips will curl on the edges and fall off when not sticky any more. Those do not dissolve like the sutures do.
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5

Subtotal:
This is an arcane surgical term referring to removing most but NOT all of the thyroid. It was historically done to reduce risk of recurrent laryngeal nerve injury and hypoparathyroidism. Currently, thyroid surgeries are mostly half (hemi) or all (total).
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6

Usual course:
Typically people have some stiffness and soreness in the neck for the first week or two. Sometimes swallowing can be difficult (especially liquids) and the voice can be hoarse for the first month (about 10% of people). Energy levels can fluctuate because of the surgery, as well as, thyroid hormone levels changing. Other specific issues can be addressed by your surgeon.
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8

Decrease blood flow:
If the patient has graves' disease or other hyperthyroidism and is scheduled for surgery, doses of iodine can be given to temporarily decrease the blood to the thyroid and aid in surgery--typically sski is given. Radioactive iodine is given to ablate the thyroid in hyperthyroidism. Some feel it should not be given in grave's if there are eye problems from the graves or it may make the eyes worse.
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9

Low calcium:
Typical symptoms might include a numb or tingly feeling around the mouth or in the hands and feet, or muscle cramps. In severe cases carpal spasm can develop - see the picture here: http://www.Nejm.Org/doi/full/10.1056/nejmicm074227.
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10

Why?:
There are a number of centers near florida that do endoscopic thyroid surgery, like tulane la, atlanta ga. The only real advantage to this type of thyroid surgery is that you would have a smaller scar in the neck or no scar if done through the axilla (arm pit). However, the procedure usually takes more time, therefore more anesthesia. There is no evidence that complications are less frequent.
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This is the removal of all or part of the thyroid gland. It is generally performed for rumors of the gland, occasionally for enlarged and hyper functioning glands that do not respond to medications.
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